Authors: Jesse Abundis
“What’s the matter?” Carl was lost in the sudden outburst. “Are you ok?”
“I’m fine,” Peewee held back tears. “Just wanted to say the sweet lord’s name.” Peewee slowly leaned his head back and whisper to Karen. “Truce.” Another punch like that and he would crap his pants for sure.
“Right on.” The officer threw out a peace sign. “Like Jesus always said, one love.” The officer was mistaking Jesus for Bob Marley, but Peewee was not one to rain down on his parade. “Hey, you want to have lunch with me?”
Peewee was a nanosecond from saying yes, but one glare from Karen and that was enough to kill his appetite. “I wish I could, but,” He leaned in and whispered. “I’m here for something else.”
The chubby desk jockey looked from side to side, to make sure the coast was clear. There was no need for it, as everyone was inside stuffing his or her face with greasy chicken. “You know the fee, pal.” He said with a mischief grin.
Peewee broke the bad news to him. “Buddy, I don’t have any porno tapes.”
“Peewee, “Carl pouted. “ That was our arrangement, I lived up to my ends, why can‘t you?”
Peewee gestured to him to keep it down. “ Will you relax; you didn’t think I was going to leave you high and dry, did you?” He put his hand around Karen. “Bud, forget porn, today you get to see the real deal. My STD riddle friend here is going to show you her tits.”
“Really!?” Carl gasped with excitement he could not believe it. “What’s the catch?” He asked.
“ You run a few names for me, pull up some history background and give us access to the Angela Denning case and we‘re even.” Peewee pointed at Karen’s breast. “Trust me, they’re worth it.”
“You sly little bastard, this is why you needed me.” Karen whispered into his ear, as Carl gnawed over the offer made.
“Come on, now, this is one of your many talents. Just throw me a bone.” They kept their smiles as Carl fumbled around with his decision.
“Deal!” Carl shouted, this was a once in a lifetime chance for him, when would an opportunity like this present itself, especially to him? “Thank you, Jesus, one love!” He pointed to the sky.
Karen opened her leather jacket and pulled up her Smith’s t-shirt, exposing her ample breast. “Take a good look; get all the mental pictures you can.” She instructed him.
“Can I touch them?” He stuttered.
“You’re a virgin aren’t you?” Karen asked, but he could not answer, his only response was the goofy look on his face. “That’s an emphatic yes.”
“Me can, please?” He squealed, without even correctly finishing his words.
“One quick touch and that’s it.” Karen sighed. The things she would do for information, a part of her was laughing in the inside; this was the crazy crap she was used to getting into.
Carl took a deep breath, his entire hand shook as he extended it out, his fingers were inches away from Karen‘s breast, for once, he would no longer have to grope himself in the dark and touch his own bosom; he could finally sleep peacefully at night, knowing he touched boob for the first time in his life. “Oh crap!” He jumped back instantly.
“Hello!” Peewee saw the stain coming from Carl’s pants.
“I got excited.” He reached down quickly to cover the stain.
“Well, show’s over.” Karen pulled down her shirt and zipped her jacket up. “Now you live up to your deal.”
He blushed at Karen. “Of course, I won’t let you down. Just tell me what you need.”
Peewee pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket. “ These are the names I need you to look up, don‘t bother with the girls that don‘t have a history of violence reported with the cops, are you getting this?” He could tell he was talking to himself, as Carl kept smiling at Karen like a complete fool, he was glad he decided to write the names out for him. “ I wrote everything I need down on this paper, don’t lose it.” He put it inside Carl’s brass pocket.
“Don’t worry I won‘t.” Carl reassured him.
“What have you heard about the Denning’s case?” Karen asked him.
“Oh, that’s over.” He said to them.
“What the hell do you mean it’s over?” Peewee stared in dismay.
“Yeah, they caught the guy a few hours ago.” Carl chuckled. “Well, not caught, discovered, but they found his body, so is that the same as caught?”
“Woo,” Both Karen and Peewee stepped in. “Are you saying he’s dead?” They both said in sync.
“You guys look like twins?” Carl stared at them. “Dude, she’s not your sister is she, because that would be pretty fucked up.”
Peewee snapped his fingers at Carl to keep focus. “Start from the beginning, what happened?”
“They got a match on the DNA, gross.” Carl scrunched his face as he recalled, but he could see they were more interested in the now. “Anyway, they matched it with a guy name Leonard Hudson, some racist asshole from Alabama, he’s wanted in two others states for rape and murder, he was living in Harlem,” Carl laughed. “Go figure right, I mean everything in Harlem are just blacks and…” He stopped himself from saying more. “Like I was saying, they tracked him down but when they busted inside, the asshole was dead. O.D on heroine, they found Angela‘s wallet at his place.”
Peewee just crouched to the floor, pulling on his hair as tightly as he could, all those hours looking for a connection, only to be wrong, it felt like running into a brick wall. “Fuck.” He muttered.
“It’s ok.” Karen knelt beside him. “We’ll look somewhere else.”
Peewee turned to smile at her. “You said we.”
“Shut up.” She hid her grin, pulling him back to his feet. “Well, just run the names for us, in the mean time see what you turn up.” Carl nodded his head and made his way into the restaurant.
“I’m sorry, Maggie.” Peewee muttered to himself, Karen was able to catch it, but said nothing. She still had not poked around the relationship between he and Lisa Donner’s mother, and wouldn’t. He would have to tell her when he was ready or when he felt he could trust her again.
A few seconds later a woman with short brown hair came walking up to them carrying a stack of fliers, her eyes were bloodshot as though she had been crying all day. “Excuse me,” She said in a whimper. “I’m trying to look for a friend of mine, her name is Janet.” She handed them a flyer from the stack. “She’s a really nice girl.” She was trying to hold it together.
“When did she go missing?” Karen asked the woman.
“Three days ago, she hasn’t called or anything. We’ve gone to the cops, but they haven’t been any help.” The woman began to tear up. “It’s our fault, we left her alone at the club, if we stayed with her none of this would have happened.”
“What club?” Karen pulled a pen from her pocket, to write the name down.
“Midnight Heat. “ The young woman said. “Please, if you see her, please call us, her family is worried sick.” She brushed away the tears and walked towards to an approaching couple.
Peewee caught a glance of that old fiery look in Karen’s eyes. “What are you thinking, Karen?”
She placed the flyer inside her jacket. “Excuse me, “Karen ran after the girl handing the flyers. “ Can we have a little chat? ”
“Guess we’re back in business.” Peewee said with a youthful voice, running behind Karen to keep up.
Chapter 19
The Hunt
He passed one after another, looking frantically for his lover, her mere scent was different from the others, her very presences would overwhelm him the moment they crossed paths, leaving him in a state of awe. Even though he could not see her yet, his instincts knew she was close, something had called him out to Central Park in this blistering heat, as it had with the others, he could feel it in his bones. There was a higher calling pushing him down this road.
He passed two busty young women in tang tops, to any other person this would have caught their eye, but not to him. To him, they were just mere eye candy for the fools of society that wanted the corporate created women of the times. That was not love, that was a mirage of a sad delude society too occupied with the price of gas and internet porn to notice the crumbling decay of its mental state. “Sluts.” He muttered at them, they couldn’t hear him over their excessive yammering about their new tan, newly dyed beach blonde hair, and the latest celebrity gossip. Both women seem to be carrying two different conversations as they talked to one another. He could feel a headache coming on.
He spent three hours walking in circles through the park, but she was nowhere to be found. He let out a depressing sigh, knowing he would have to call off the search for today. He had other matters that needed to be attended to before the day was over.
“Society is falling into a point of no return.” His ears perked. “We’re all too occupied with meaningless gadgets and toys, to even care about it all.” Her voice was sharp, a sliver tongue so to speak. He shivered with pleasure at every word flowing out of her mouth. He slowly turned around to see a young African American woman talking to a male companion of hers, they walked side by side together, He shook himself from the daze and slowly began to follow them. His heart thundered with each step, her scent becoming stronger as he approached.
“Now, Caroline you‘re being over dramatic. Look around you, can‘t you see how far we‘ve come, if anything, society is at the golden age of a new era.” Her male companion said. They dressed casually as not to stand out, but their speech was impeccable and educated. College students no doubt, out for a walk and a friendly philosophical debate.
“I don’t quite believe that to be - - -” Caroline could feel someone was staring at her, but as she turned around to look, she only found people enjoying a walk in the heat wave of hell. She laughed away the sudden alert as her mind playing tricks. “ True.”
Her lover could see her beautiful face in the distance, looking so intensely for him in the sea of people, how he wished he could smile at her, let her see him face to face, but he knew that would be wrong, it wasn’t the time, so he remained hidden.
Caroline eyes remained on the crowd for a few seconds until her male companion tapped her shoulder, asking if everything was well. She laughed, muttering something to him and they continued, walking briskly on with their day carrying on their debate.
He wonder if Caroline’s companion was her boyfriend, the man seem to be well built, attractive enough to win anyone. But the more he followed, the easier it was to erase such notion from his mind, as they walked he made no attempt to hold her hand or show any hint of romantic involvement, he could see the look of boredom on his lovers face as they continued, but her companion didn’t seem to care, his mind was more eager on winning the war of words and coming out the victor. Surely, lovers would be doing something more physical in this heat than arguing.
He smiled at her from afar, enjoying the look in her eyes as she wondered where her soul mate was. He knew she could feel his presence, as he felt hers. He took a deep breath as he continued on, feeling so anxious, knowing she was so close but there was nothing he could do. “We’ll be together, very soon. I promise, my love.” He whispered to her, hoping she could hear his voice.
Chapter 20
The Stranger in Apartment 206
Waking up at seven wasn’t Karen’s ideal morning, she was never much of an early riser to start with, and being woken up to her crazy sex addict neighbor from upstairs moving furniture just pissed her off the wrong way, at least she hoped Vanessa was moving furniture.
Karen rolled over to her side to get some sleep, only to find a drooling Peewee sucking on his thumb and holding tightly to his Batman “Action figure“ with the duck tape leg. She begged to buy him a new toy after breaking his bedtime buddy, but he would have none of it, no other could take its place. “Hello, Bruce, has Peewee tried to molest you yet?” She asked the doll tugging on its damage leg. Suddenly the sound of blaring music came raining down from her ceiling, almost causing her to snap off the leg of the Dark Knight once more.
The noise alone was enough to awaken a passed out Peewee, whose first image was seeing Karen without her black eye shadow and dark lipstick. He cringed and held on to his doll tighter. “Jesus, you really do look different without the whole bad girl look.”
Karen rolled over on her back staring at the ceiling that vibrated with some sort of Asian rock music, she wanted to ignore it and continue to get some sleep, but obtaining such goal was far out of her reach, knowing that only fueled her rage. “ That nympho is going to get it,” She jumped out of bed, opened her drawer to find her pair of jeans. “ I’m going to rip her a new asshole!”